As Harry Truman once said, “There is nothing new in the world, except
the history you do not know.”
Recently, another
tragedy of unimaginable proportions occurred, this one in Aurora Colorado;
which left 12 people dead, and 58 wounded 9 critically. This deadly rampage took
place during a midnight episode of the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight”.
James Holmes, a disturbed young man, dressed in SWAT gear and wielding a
semi-automatic weapon entered the theater and committed these atrocities, by
randomly shooting innocent people.
Since we tend to
ignore history, it continues to repeat itself with the same ominous results.
Predictably, the national media blasted away with their usual misplaced blame
at specific groups. Repeating the mistakes made in the aftermath of the tragedy
in Tucson Arizona about 19 months prior, the first target was the local Tea
Party. Two notable ABC news correspondents, Brian Ross and George
Stephanopoulos, did their best “Dumb and Dumber” impersonations when they
alleged that the shooter was a member of the Colorado Tea Party. This
announcement was orchestrated with a measure of “Yellow Journalism” not seen
since those Tucson shootings, because they once again, never did check their
facts. The two seemed to be blinded by their ignorance and failed to believe
that there could be more than one person in Colorado with the name James
Holmes. Not surprisingly, there are!
To refresh
everyone’s memory, after the tragic shootings in Tucson, the media and
politicians were outlandish with their assertion that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party
were somehow instrumental in that tragedy. As time went on, the world soon
discovered that there was no culpability on their part, just like in Aurora
Colorado. It bears adding that the alleged perpetrator in Tucson, Jared
Loughner; possessed political views more in tuned with the liberal thinking
Occupy Movement. However, neither Mr. Stephanopoulos nor Mr. Ross has
acknowledged that as of this time nor are they likely to do so in the
foreseeable future.
That being said,
all of their stupidity distracts from the real issues, and the one challenge we
need to direct more energy into, which could, in fact, prevent some of these
tragedies like the ones mentioned. Recent history is illustrating that the direction
we are taking in this country, is not working! Major changes in the mental
health system are needed and are long overdue!
On April 16, 2007,
Seung Hui Cho, a disturbed student at Virginia Tech University shot 32 fellow
students to death and wounded 17 more before killing himself. A commission was
formed to study this tragedy and came up with changes in civil commitment laws,
but the changes were not properly funded. According to the Treatment Advocacy
Center, since 2005, in that state, the number of inpatient beds has
surprisingly decreased by 15%. This in spite of calls for fundamental changes
in the treatment of the severely mentally ill!
On January 8, 2011,
the aforementioned Jared Loughner, a severely mentally ill man shot and killed
6 people at a political rally in Tucson Arizona and wounded 14 others. Among
the most seriously injured was U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is
still battling to recover from her near fatal wounds. In Arizona, even with all
the calls for change, and with so much national attention, the number of beds
has decreased by 23% in the last 7 years!
Now we have this
unthinkable massacre in Colorado. Though we do not have a confirmed diagnosis
of James Holmes, there is emerging a vast deal of evidence to suggest the basis
for his being so disturbed.
Here, is a 24 year
old college student who is highly intelligent, and who graduated high school
with honors. He was recently enrolled in a PHD Program for neuroscience, and
has been described as a very bright, quiet and pleasant person, but also a
loner with no friends. Though there are people who are challenging his
intellect, he did stand out academically.
Some of that does draw a comparison to the plight of Dr. John Nash, the
brilliant mathematician, whose personal battle with schizophrenia, and academic
prowess was chronicled in the movie “A Beautiful Mind.” It must be added that James
Holmes is in an age bracket that is a high risk for developing some forms of
mental illness. Again, as this case develops, much of what we learn about seems
to fall within the symptomology of some form of an emotional disorder.
Many people are
calling James Holmes “evil” and no matter what the cause there is no defense
for what he did. His acts were heinous in nature and in the future, he will
most likely face the death penalty. I am not giving him an excuse; it is the
causation of his acts that we NEED to examine and understand. This is essential
to gather insight so in time; we can prevent similar tragedies from occurring.
We need to grasp why a seemingly talented young man with unlimited prospects of
success, drops out of school, assumes the identity of a comic book character
and commits mass murder. It would not be a reach to believe that he developed
some cognitive distortion that threw him into such a delusional state, and in
time, we will discover what that is.
Some in the
national media are speculating that this young man exhibited no warning signs.
That is highly doubtful, as it is more likely that people just did not
recognize the signs as they appeared. In June, this student failed a test in
his PHD program and soon after dropped out of school. Was he exhibiting signs
of psychosis that clouded his mind which contributed to this failure, or did
this failure trigger this violent outburst? Since it is known that he was
already in the planning stages of this murderous spree, it is most probable
that he was already exhibiting signs of emotional disturbances, but many people
around him in school would have missed it. The main reason for that is a lack
of awareness of the warning signs.
His family has not
commented on this case, except through a family attorney, but hopefully they will
in the future. They can be a reliable source for exactly where this young man’s
downfall began.
There is
additional information worth adding here. In Colorado, the number of mental
health beds has decreased since 2005 by an eye-opening 33%, nearly two and a
half times the U.S. average. Again, we still do not have a diagnosis on James
Holmes, but if, in fact, he had one, there may have been seriously limited
resources of help available for him. Even in his home state of California, which
boasts openness and tolerance, while providing for their citizens, they reduced
their inpatient beds by 16% during the same time frame. This in spite of a
mental health tax put in place several years ago.
Many of us have
learned that the real insanity is not the people who are sick, it is the
system! Not surprisingly, the political leaders who can change it are the ones
who turn a blind eye to this problem until they can obtain an instant headline
out it. It is a system that sits back helplessly while these types of
atrocities occur. It is one where kids either jump off bridges or stand in
front of moving trains as their only escape from pain, because they cannot find
the appropriate treatment. I know as I have written an immense deal about all
of these types of tragedies.
There is a reason
for people in the mental health field to become cynical, and the reduction in
mental health care is the culprit. Every time a disaster likes this one occurs,
politicians rally around people with promises for change. Now they are
deflecting from root causes and calling for gun control among other publicity
seeking, but visceral solutions. In reality, there is little ambition to
correct the broken mental health system. Mainly, because a large percentage of
the populace is unaware of just how dire the situation has become.
Over the next few months
our elected officials, like everyone else, will witness the initiative of
promised actions for change wane from the public view, and be forgotten.
Instead of real solutions, society will again become more infatuated with the talentless
and shallow Kardashians, and which one is sleeping with whom while divorcing
another. The desire to making positive changes ensuring readily available
treatment for people in need will become a forgotten footnote to the general
population, until the next tragedy occurs.
After the Tucson
shootings, there was a call for a “National Dialog on Mental illness”, and to
date, that has not occurred nor is it likely to in the future. If we sincerely
wish to alter the negative trends with those afflicted, increased suicide,
increased disability in the workplace, more police encounters and tragedies
like this the ones mentioned; many of us have a straightforward answer to
everyone. Open your eyes, become more educated, and begin to force our
political leaders to make treatment more accessible, and for civil commitment
laws to be modernized. Otherwise, history will continue to repeat itself!
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